“That bastard—there’s no way he’s D-Rank or lower.”
On the building’s rooftop.
Kim Han-yul’s eyes twitched as she stared down at the ground, and a curse slipped from her lips before she realized it.
“He must’ve used some kind of Hidden Piece or cheat. How else does that make any sense?”
An undead.
A monster that could not die.
The endlessly regenerating Corpse Giant had exploded in a single strike.
The bastard had not even flinched at flame magic, an undead’s weakness, yet one blow from a hammer had done that to it.
Of course, the hammer was quite large.
And it had been falling fast.
But as she had said repeatedly, it was still an undead.
A monster that would not die no matter how hard it was struck.
The monster should have regenerated with the help of the zombies swarming around it once more, yet it had stopped moving as a mass of pulp.
Could it still rise again as if nothing had happened?
Because it was an undead?
Impossible.
The System messages cluttering her already-confused mind told her as much.
『User Kim Han-yul has demonstrated exceptional play in Dungeon: Zombie Burst.』
『Boss Monster, Corpse Giant, successfully hunted.』
『Measuring contribution: 8%.』
『Additional Mana Stones awarded as clear rewards.』
…….
…….
The Corpse Giant was dead.
Although her contribution amounted to only 8%, her actions had still been judged exceptional play.
Not a single Hunter had ever killed the Corpse Giant before.
In this situation, what reason was there to doubt that the Corpse Giant had died as a mass of pulp?
And that was precisely why she had no choice but to question Joo Do-gyeom’s stat Grades.
‘If he really is a Hunter with pure stats at D-Rank or lower, then he’s a monster.’
An absurd monster.
It would not be strange for the worldwide Hunter rankings to be completely overturned within a few years.
As Kim Han-yul’s trembling lips opened and closed wordlessly—
Joo Do-gyeom was still moving.
He continued swinging the great hammer, sweeping away the remaining zombie mobs as he charged toward the building.
Kim Han-yul wanted to ask him one thing.
‘Why?’
He could simply return now.
What could possibly be there that kept that terrifying man moving without pause?
Merely watching him was enough to drain the strength from her legs.
Kim Han-yul sank to the ground without realizing it.
Just as he was about to pass the building whose rooftop she stood upon—
Joo Do-gyeom’s gaze shifted.
The man and woman’s eyes met.
Joo Do-gyeom’s lips moved.
-I’ll contact you.
Then his voice traveled through the air to her.
Kim Han-yul jolted in surprise.
‘What is this? Message magic? No…… He seems like a warrior type…… Voice Transmission? Is this Voice Transmission?’
Her collapsed legs were still trembling on their own when—
GROOOOAN—!
GRAAAAAH—!
She heard a new horde of zombies climbing through the building she had forced her way up.
Kim Han-yul was sick and tired of zombies.
No, of corpses.
‘I want to rest.’
She immediately requested a return to Earth.
The next instant.
Kim Han-yul’s figure vanished from the Zombie Burst dungeon.
***
After defeating the Corpse Giant, Joo Do-gyeom ran forward.
Agonizing pain racked his body from activating the Divine Beast Latent Power Art.
He had to finish everything before the pain became severe enough to make him lose consciousness.
Messages rang out one after another in his head.
『User Joo Do-gyeom has demonstrated exceptional play in Dungeon: Zombie Burst.』
『Boss Monster, Corpse Giant, successfully hunted.』
『Measuring contribution: 92%.』
『Overwhelming.』
『Mana Stone clear rewards greatly increased.』
『Your current stats will receive three random major increases.』
『Stamina Grade increased: E+ => D-』
『Stamina Grade increased: D- => D』
『Agility Grade increased: E => E+』
『One learned Skill receives a bonus proficiency advancement through System correction.』
『Skill, Earth Formula Qigong, advanced to 4-Star.』
『Special Skill, Fear, acquired.』
『Imprinted Item, Inventory Grand Expansion, awarded.』
『Current System Inventory capacity tripled.』
A faint smile formed despite the pain.
The Inventory expansion he had wanted had finally arrived.
And it was not merely a twofold expansion, but a Grand Expansion that tripled its capacity.
On top of that—
‘Earth Formula Qigong advanced through a System reward.’
That was truly rare.
It was exceedingly uncommon for a Skill or martial art to advance through the System without his body developing the corresponding proficiency.
To put it bluntly, it was the kind of reward that might not appear even after ten exceptional plays.
Yet he had obtained one in only his second dungeon.
He could not help thinking he had been lucky.
But that was not the end of it.
He had gained a Skill.
A Special Skill, at that.
It was also known as an Ungraded Skill.
As the System message indicated, its defining characteristic was that it had no Grade.
Did that mean its power always remained the same?
No.
For items, Ungraded denoted the lowest Grade, but Skills were different.
Most Special Skills were influenced by the user’s stats.
In the case of the Fear Joo Do-gyeom had just acquired—
‘Strength and Magic, then.’
Joo Do-gyeom’s current Strength stat had far exceeded the dungeon’s limit because of the Divine Beast Latent Power Art, and even his Magic could not be considered low by present standards.
What effect would Fear produce in that state?
To find out, he unleashed Fear toward the zombies shambling out of the mountain of corpses.
Then—
GROOOOAN—!
GAAAAAAH—!
The mindless zombies shrieked in terror and scattered in every direction.
Even the more evolved Mutant Zombies were no different.
Like human soldiers who had completely lost the will to fight, the bastards were too busy fleeing from Joo Do-gyeom to do anything else.
His mind had been filled with thoughts of breaking through the mountain of corpses to obtain his ultimate objective, Death Reprieve.
Instead, all he had to do was charge through a path that opened on its own like the miracle of the Red Sea.
Frankly—
‘It’s far more powerful than I expected.’
Combined with Contempt for the Weak, enemies weaker than Joo Do-gyeom might effectively become meaningless, no matter how many of them there were.
A smile spread across his lips.
Through the wide-open gap in the mountain of corpses, he saw a purple deformity bristling with spikes like a sea urchin.
Joo Do-gyeom’s eyes flashed.
‘Found it. The Hidden Piece, Omen of Ill Fortune.’
The great hammer swung wide once more.
The corpses that should have protected it had scattered in every direction.
The Omen of Ill Fortune took the great hammer’s blow head-on.
CRRRAAACK—!
It sounded like glass cracking.
Immediately afterward.
The Omen of Ill Fortune shattered and scattered like grains of sand before vanishing.
At the same time, sunlight poured over the dark cityscape of the Zombie Burst dungeon, and the mountain of corpses began melting like snow.
It was a temporary purification phenomenon.
It was a strange phenomenon rarely seen in a dungeon, but everything would eventually return to normal with time.
Just as the slain Cannibal and Corpse Giant would respawn.
That was the kind of world a dungeon was.
In the end, the only thing that mattered to Joo Do-gyeom now was—
『Omen of Ill Fortune destroyed.』
『Hidden Piece activated.』
『Unique Skill, Death Reprieve (Lv. MAX), acquired.』
He had obtained what he wanted.
After reviewing everything, Joo Do-gyeom spoke.
“I’ll return to Earth.”
『Confirmed.』
『User Joo Do-gyeom, returning to Earth.』
Zombie Burst.
It marked the end of a journey that had been anything but short.
***
After returning to Earth, Joo Do-gyeom lost consciousness once again.
It was the side effect of the Detonation Art, just as it had been after the Cannibal’s Mansion.
However, he had not gone as far as a third detonation this time, so he clearly checked the date before losing consciousness.
When he opened his eyes and checked how much time had passed—
‘One day.’
He had probably been unconscious for far longer after the Cannibal’s Mansion.
The level of his Earth Formula Qigong had been different then, and he had pushed his body much harder.
His internal injuries were not particularly severe this time either.
At worst, he would fully recover within a few days.
He had no complaints.
For the mere risk of losing one day, he had hunted the Corpse Giant and even obtained Death Reprieve.
It was hard to imagine a more profitable bargain.
Of course, all of this had only been possible because he possessed Earth Formula Qigong.
As he had said repeatedly—
When it came to recovery and durability, Earth Formula Qigong was an unrivaled Inner Cultivation Method.
The superior version, Boundless Heaven and Earth Divine Art?
‘If I’d mastered it, a Detonation Art of this level might not even have left any aftereffects.’
In truth, the Divine Beast Latent Power Art and Reverse-Flow Roc-Wing Art were comparatively mild forms of Detonation Art.
That was only natural, considering each enhanced just one type of stat—Strength or Agility.
In any case.
Satisfied with the results, Joo Do-gyeom first checked the banking app on his smartphone.
While he had been inside the dungeon, the date had already passed March 21.
The shares he had set to sell automatically had been liquidated.
The remaining balance in his brokerage account was—
‘1.2 billion won.’
It was a great deal of money in one sense, yet not much in another.
It was much like the martial arts currently accumulated within Joo Do-gyeom’s body.
‘I’ve only just secured my seed money.’
Joo Do-gyeom withdrew roughly 80 percent of the money and invested it in Jindo Coin, a cryptocurrency.
A cryptocurrency’s greatest advantage and disadvantage were the same.
It had no limits.
And now, with April just around the corner—
Jindo Coin, which had remained quiet for a long time, was showing signs of rebounding.
In truth, Jindo Coin was not a highly credible cryptocurrency.
It had once skyrocketed tremendously, only to crash even harder, and it had never recovered afterward.
But this time, it really would rise.
And by quite a lot.
‘Once word gets out that the U.S. government has secretly been buying Jindo Coin, it’ll pour even more fuel on the fire.’
He had a vivid memory of it, so there was nothing to fear.
Joo Do-gyeom finished investing his assets and checked the amount that remained.
‘240 million won.’
That was not all.
A large quantity of Mana Stones, the clear reward from the Zombie Burst dungeon, should also be stored in his Inventory.
He opened his Inventory to confirm the exact amount.
His System Inventory, now expanded to sixty slots, was completely full.
Excluding the great hammer, Purification Water Bottle, and other equipment he already owned, he had gained roughly fifty Mana Stones in total.
They were a mixture of lowest-grade and low-grade stones.
He could sell all the lowest-grade ones.
Mana Stone Braising no longer had any effect with them.
But the low-grade ones?
‘I should use them for now.’
As he had said, there was no other means on Earth that could increase his mana this quickly.
Lastly, one additional Mana Stone with a faint blackish-purple glow caught Joo Do-gyeom’s eye.
『Corpse Giant’s Mana Stone (Special)』
Looking at it—
‘That looks delicious.’
Joo Do-gyeom unconsciously swallowed the saliva gathering in his mouth.
Unlike before his Regression, it seemed he had become quite the gourmet.
***
Two days later, at a large café near Yongdun in the Blue Zone.
A woman entered wearing skinny jeans, a white T-shirt, and a thin beige leather jacket.
Several patrons who had been glancing around without much thought looked startled when they saw her.
First, because her beauty stood out.
Second, because she was one of the hottest rookies in the Hunter community lately.
“Hey, isn’t that Kim Han-yul?”
“I’d only heard the rumors, but she really is beautiful.”
“I heard her team completely broke up after they failed to kill the Corpse Giant not long ago. What’s she going to do now?”
“She’ll probably join a Clan, won’t she? That would be better if she wants to grow steadily.”
When had she become this famous?
Kim Han-yul felt slightly flustered by a situation she had not experienced when going out only a few months earlier.
With an awkward expression, she reached into her bag for the sunglasses she had brought just in case.
At that moment, someone lightly tapped her shoulder.
Startled, Kim Han-yul jumped straight into the air and spun around.
Directly behind her—
Joo Do-gyeom, the one who had touched her, spoke with a baffled expression.
“That is an unusual reflex. You did not answer when I called, so I tapped you. Do not misunderstand.”
Kim Han-yul’s face turned bright red.
She slightly averted her gaze and nodded.